Ravenscroft Lawn Tennis Club

We have set up a Men’s and Women’s singles tennis ladder - only members of the club may
apply to join.  The starting ladder will be on display on the tennis notice board; positions and
points will updated at the end of each month.

If you have any questions about the ladder or wish to join in please contact Niki, Claudine or
Marc.

This ladder will begin 1 st January 2025 and end 30 st April 2025 prior to the Summer
Tournament. Prizes will be awarded to the leaders and those with most acquired points.
We are using the Global Tennis Network app to manage the ladders and scores. Once
you agree to be on the ladder we will send you a link to join the Ravenscroft LTC network
and log in to the ladder.

Please find below the rules for the tennis ladder and the match format.  The ladder is
intended to give players the basic structure on which to contact other members and have
some fun games.  The rules are intended as a guide and are partly restricted by the app -
use your own judgement and enjoy your matches.

This is new to Ravenscroft LTC, please be patient while we set this up. We may have to
tweak a few rules on the app as we go along. The idea is to trial this initial 4 months with a
view to another ladder July to April next year. Any feedback welcome!

RULES:
1. There will be 2 ladders of players, Men and Women. The initial ranking of the players on
the ladders will be set up by Steve.
2. It is up to the challenger to make contact with their opponent. You may challenge
another player on the ladder, up to and including 3 places above you. This must be
done via the app. You can then message each other privately to arrange matches etc.
3. Players have 5 days to accept or decline a challenge before it is automatically declined.
If a challenge is declined you will move down one rank and lose some points.
4. Players can have up to 3 pending outgoing challenges at a time. This includes an
outgoing challenge that has been accepted but not played. The outgoing challenge has
to be completed before a new one can be made.
5. Please try and organise to play your matches within 2 weeks of a challenge. You must
play no later than 3 weeks after the challenge has been made, otherwise it is counted
as a decline on the app for the challenged player!

6. If you are injured or away on a long holiday, please let one of us know. We can make
you ‘unavailable’ on the app for challenges, for a max of 2 weeks over the course of the
ladder.
7. Players can have up to 3 pending incoming challenges at a time. This includes an
incoming challenge that has been accepted but not played.

8. You may only play an opponent if this player was not played in your last 2 matches. You
may only play any opponent on the ladder a max of 5 times.
9. Play normal deuces unless all the courts are busy and people are waiting – then play
short deuces. Those playing singles ladder matches do not have court priority like in
tournaments so please follow club rules when courts are busy and swap in after 6
games.
10. The challenger is responsible for providing reasonable tennis balls for the match.
11. It is the responsibility of the winner of the match to record the score on the GTN app.

MATCHES:
8 Game Pro Set: An 8 game pro set is first to 8 games by a margin of two games.
A 7-point tie-break is played if the score reaches 8-8. (First to 7 points, but you have to win
by two clear points i.e. 7-5, 8-6 etc.)
The Leap Frog Plus system will be used to compute a player's position on the ladder.
This system is the based on the classic Leap Frog system, but also awards additional points
based on games won and lost.
POSITIONS ON THE LADDER FOLLOWING COMPLETION OF A MATCH CHANGE AS
FOLLOWS:
a. If the winner has the higher position, there is no change.
b. If the winner has the lower position, he or she takes over the higher position. The loser
and all others below the winner move down one position. The calculation is based on the
position of the two players when the match is recorded, not those at the time the challenge is
made. It’s not unusual to find the positions of the players have changed during that interval.
Please observe good sportsmanship and play your match even if you find your respective
positions have changed.

POINTS SYSTEM:
Players gain points for playing matches regardless of the outcome. Here is how it works:
For a 8 game pro set there are a max of 17 games played (8 each and 1 tie break)
The loser always gets 1 point for each game they win, and the winner gets the rest of the 17
points available.
Lets say player A is ranked #1 and has 200 points, and player B is ranked #3 and has 150
points. Here are two scenarios to help see what could happen:
1. If player A wins 8-2 they would then have 215 points, and player B would have 152 points.
Their rankings would remain the same
2. If player B wins 8-6, they would then have 161 points, and team A would have 206 points.
Player B would now be ranked #1 and player A #2